CINCINNATI — The University of Cincinnati Medical Center is the target of a lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Lawyers representing the family of killed inmate John Daulton at the Kenton County Detention Center filed suit alleging that the ineffective treatment of his killer, Johnathan Maskiell, led to Daulton’s death in a prison cell in May 2023.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Dave Blank, alleges that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requires hospitals to “stabilize” people experiencing “emergency medical conditions,” and UCMC staff failed to do so.

Blank said he had an independent physician, Dr. Andrew Clark, who assessed Maskiel’s condition in the days leading up to his May 12, 2023 hospitalization and his May 14, 2023 attack on Daulton, and an affidavit by Dr. Clark said that Maskiell “appeared to be acutely and severely psychotic with active hallucinations, delusions and disorganization to the worker and the emergency physician.”

Clark said there was no indication on record that any therapeutic measures were taken to stabilize Maskeill during his nearly nine-hour hospital stay.

“Furthermore, if Maskiell had been properly evaluated, stabilized and treated by UCMC, he would have been hospitalized for at least several days and would not have been able to kill John Daulton on 5/14/2024,” the statement on own responsibility.

Blank said the hospital gave Maskiell a single Risperdal pill, put him in an Uber and sent him to the Talbert House mental health facility at 10:20 p.m. on May 12.

He walked out of the Talbert House on May 13 and was confronted by Covington police while walking bloodied and shirtless on I-75 around midnight on the morning of May 14.

A few hours later, he beat Daulton to death.

In newly released body camera footage from inside the prison, moments after the attack, he told a jailer why he did it.

“Why did you attack him anyway?” asked the jailer.

“Because the voices in my head tell me,” answered Meskiell.

Blank said the system failed Meskiell, leading to Daulton’s death.

“They didn’t care about him and that’s why we’re here,” Blank said. “That’s why this lawsuit is being filed. Nobody cared about it. Not in this case, at the University of Cincinnati, and not in the prison case.”

Attorney Paul Hill said the new lawsuit against UCMC did not absolve the Kenton County Detention Center of responsibility in Daulton’s death, and he will continue to pursue his lawsuit on behalf of Daulton’s daughterTonya Jones.

Hill’s lawsuit was filed in 2023, targeting the county, jailer Marc Fields and other jail employees.

“It’s a failure of the whole system,” Hill said.

Hill said the jail should never have put a homicide inmate in an isolation cell with Daulton.

The lawyer also said their investigations revealed a systemic breakdown in information sharing around the prison that could put others at risk.

He said the jail does not question arresting officers about what to expect from those brought into the jail.

“I don’t take it seriously,” Hill said. “We have now removed two different Covington police officers who have been on the job for six or seven years. They testified that they were never asked those questions.

Both lawyers asked for compensation and damages and said they hoped the lawsuits would lead to meaningful changes to protect others.

Fields declined to comment on pending litigation and referred a WCPO request for comment to attorney Chris Nordloh who represents the county.

Nordloh issued a statement regarding Hill’s allegations:

“The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database provides the criminal history of inmates to arresting agencies and prisons across the country. That’s what he did in this case. None of the prisoners involved in the incident had ever assaulted a jail deputy or another prisoner in Kenton County or elsewhere. Kenton County is defending the claims against him and will not spend taxpayer money to resolve a claim that is expected to be dismissed on the merits,” the statement said.

UCMC representatives issued a statement in response to the latest lawsuit:

“UC Health remains committed to providing advanced care to our community and honors patients’ privacy rights as provided by state and federal law. We are unable to share any information as requested by you and do not comment on pending litigation,” the statement said.

Maskel he was sentenced to 25 years in prison in June 2024.

A July 1 court date has been set for Hill’s Kenton County trial.

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